Fair enough. I guess I'm getting used to it here.
Agreed on this note. I've referenced them frequently in the past when making product purchases. I agree with what another person wrote recently, though: they're overlooking far too much in their product reviews (like product interface, accessibility, etc.). I haven't been using them as much over the past few year because they've recommended some really trashy products. But I still like to read about complaints. I personally do care about this because when they prop up a minor issue as a large one while overlooking too many major issues their value as a resource is diminished.
I'd reiterate my original point that failing to apply the same standard to numerous devices of the same category is not consistent, and this is something which they are guilty of. It becomes a little more foggy when you consider the extent to which they have hyped this particular complaint (through promotion and follow-ups, for example).
I assume you're referring to people who write off Consumer Reports as not being important here? I agree. They've still got a readership and their opinion matters to many people, so their word carries importance by definition.
Such a shame this iPhone4 became such a failure
Which is why the Apple "bumper" should have always just come as part of the iPhone 4 in the first place. It should have just shipped in the box already ON the iPhone. Had Apple simply done that, most of this nonsense would have never happened. But instead they wanted to charge $29. a pop for a $.05 item. They should have taken the $.05 hit and just made it part of the iPhone. Could have avoided all of this bad press.
It's also important to point out that the iPhone 4's design creates a target. If any other smartphone had, let's say, a white or black dot where when touched the attenuation would be highest, then they'd get some extremely bad press. Most cell phone manuals just put a circle or rectangle in the general area of the antenna and provide a warning along the lines of, "Touching this area could result in performance degradation, increased battery depletion, hotter temperatures due to increased transmission power, and unexpected connection terminations."
